I have to strongly disagree with Scott here. I am not an accomplished screen writer but I have 23 years of legal practice under my belt. If it looks like a legal document then it probably is a legal document and you should take your advice from a lawyer. You should also take your advice from a lawyer who works in that area of law (commercial, warranties, guarantees, indemnities) in the country or state that applies. Find a lawyer who is prepared to tell you that they have done a few of these before. I also don't agree that it's a 'buyers market' (Scott's words) and that basically you should sign whatever is put in front of you without reading and contemplating it (not Scott's words but where it often ends up). It's a busy market, sure. But buyers want a rare commodity (a good script) and when they find it and are considering spending time and money turning it into a film, then you are an important asset and a business equal. If you send them back a redrafted release form, you will at least get noticed. I also disagree with, "If the entity you’re dealing with is a legitimate Hollywood player, the chances of you getting ripped off are negligible, so bear that in mind when considering if you should sign a release form or not" for this reason. You are doing business with a Company, not an individual. That nice manager guy on floor 2 can only say sorry and look embarrassed if someone else in the building passes your script out of the back door to someone who was working on another script with same name, same plot, theme, characters as yours and you only found out about it years later. I don't know if it happened in the case of Gravity but at least one side to that litigation has alleged it. It's better to be the guy who negotiated a clause that the Company keeps good records who had access to the script. That plays in court, should you ever end up there, not "I thought they were a legitimate business". The decision to sign or not is about ensuring you don't have to go to court, or at least ensuring you didn't sign away your legal rights and remedies if there later turns out to be a bit of ripping off your script. 60 minutes with a good lawyer and ICM's release and she gives you a standard double (or return) indemnity; she puts her pen through 3 and asks why you would be so stupid to indemnify them for their lawyers costs and explains a court can do that if you've been stealing other peoples ideas or wotnot. She looks at 6 and wonders if 'substantially the same agreement' is the sort of thing that would be void for reasons of uncertainty but thinks that there is no reason to raise a requisition because 6 doesn't mean anything anyway. She talks to you about what level of confidentiality you expect and so it goes on. Maybe if she's in LA she's done this for Aaron or Max or someone else whose last screenplay sold for a lot of zeros. Because they used the term 'substantially the same agreement' she says that of course they have different agreements in use and not to be fooled by the bluster of sign it or else. Do you want to join the list of bad stories from writers, directors, actors who signed documents without taking legal advice, watched someone rip off their script or walking off with all the cash? If the answer is no, talk to a lawyer.